Systems and methods for routing cross-channel calls

ABSTRACT

Activities performed by a client at a site of an organization are monitored and stored in an activity database. A call is thereafter received from the client at a telephone system of the organization, which performs an identification of the client. The identification is provided to a cross-channel router as a request for a prediction on where the call from the client should be routed, and the router indexes into the activity database based on the identification of the client to obtain the monitored activity of the client. The router employs predicting rules and the obtained activity to generate a prediction of client needs, and returns the generated prediction to the telephone-based system, which presents prioritized telephone prompts to the client according to the returned prediction to help in routing the call.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/270,273, filed Nov. 13, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,634,540,and is related to the following applications, each of which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety:

-   -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/270,279, filed Nov. 13,        2008;    -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/270,285, filed Nov. 13,        2008;    -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/270,396, filed Nov. 13,        2008; and    -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/270,409, filed Nov. 13,        2008.

FIELD

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods that routetelephone calls or the like. In particular, the present disclosurerelates to routing a call within an organization from a client or thelike based on previous activity of the client with respect to theorganization in a different communications channel.

BACKGROUND

In connection with an organization or the like having customers,members, clients, or the like (hereinafter, ‘clients’), it may be thecase that the organization provides a site or the like that may beaccessed by the clients of such organization by way of an appropriatecorresponding communications channel. For example, it may be that theorganization maintains a web site accessible by clients of theorganization by way of an inter-network communications medium such asthe Internet. With such a site, then, each client of the organizationmay access information from the organization, perhaps includinginformation relevant to such client.

Accordingly, if the organization is an insurance company and the clientis a customer having one or more policies with the insurance company,the site may allow the customer to access information from the insurancecompany regarding the policies, such as whether a payment has beenreceived or whether a policy covers a particular loss, among otherthings. In addition, the site may allow the customer to accessinformation from the insurance company regarding the availability andcost of an additional policy, among other things. Similarly, if theorganization is a financial institution and the client is an accountholder having one or more accounts with the financial institution, thesite may allow the account holder to access information from thefinancial institution regarding the accounts, such as whether a deposithas been received or whether interest has been credited, among otherthings. In addition, the site may allow the account holder to accessinformation from the financial institution regarding the availability ofan additional account or a loan, among other things. Likewise, if theorganization is a merchandise retailer and the client is a purchaser ofthe retailer, the site may allow the purchaser to access informationfrom the retailer regarding particular merchandise available, amongother things. In addition, the site may allow the purchaser to accessinformation from the retailer regarding whether a returned item has beenreceived, among other things.

Notably, a site of an organization can provide particular information toa client of the organization only if the site has access to suchparticular information and if the client can successfully navigatethrough the site to find such particular information. Thus, if theclient requires particular information, the organization provides suchparticular information at the site thereof, and the client locates suchparticular information at the site, then the client is satisfied.However, if the client requires particular information and theorganization does not provide such particular information at the sitethereof, the client cannot locate such particular information at thesite, or the client has questions about such particular information,then the client is not satisfied.

In the case where the client is not satisfied because the organizationdoes not provide such particular information at the site thereof, theclient cannot locate such particular information at the site, or theclient has questions about such particular information, the clientoftentimes can attempt to obtain the particular information from adifferent communications channel. Typically, although by no meansexclusively, the different communications channel is a telephonechannel, whereby the organization provides a telephone-based system forthe client to call the organization to obtain information. As isgenerally known, in such a telephone-based system it may be that theclient calls the organization by way of a particular telephone number tospeak to a service representative or agent or the like that is providedby the organization for the specific purpose of servicing telephonecalls from clients.

Oftentimes, prior to speaking to such a service representative, thecalling client is first routed within the telephone-based systemaccording to one or more routing criteria. Such routing is generallyknown, and may be performed when the organization has several areas ofoperations, each of which has corresponding sets of servicerepresentatives. For example, if the organization is a financialinstitution, it may be that a call from a client is routed to differentsets of service representatives depending on whether the call relates toa deposit account, a loan, or a credit card, among other things.Similarly, if the organization is an insurance company, it may be that acall from a client is routed to different sets of servicerepresentatives depending on whether the call relates to home insurance,auto insurance, or life insurance, among other things. In any case, suchrouting may be performed by way of a series of menus presented to acalling client, or by other appropriate mechanisms.

Notably, when a client calls the organization to speak to a servicerepresentative after not being able to obtain particular informationfrom the site of the organization, the client has already effectivelyused an appreciable amount of time and effort at the site. Despite this,the telephone-based system of the organization is unaware of theprevious activity that the calling client undertook at the site and thushas to start anew with the calling client to route same to anappropriate service representative who can service the calling client.Of course, such starting anew requires more time and effort on the partof the client, which as should be understood may add to thedissatisfaction experienced by the client.

To compound matters, such starting anew also requires time and effort onthe part of the telephone-based system and by extension theorganization. Particularly if the organization is relatively large andhas many different sets of service representatives to whom the call maybe routed, the time and effort spent to route each call by thetelephone-based system can quickly add up to a considerable expense,even over a relatively short period of time. Moreover, such considerableexpense can be compounded when it is considered that the telephone-basedsystem misroutes an appreciable number of calls, perhaps on the order of10-20 percent. As should be understood, such misrouted calls causeclients additional dissatisfaction and also require time and effort beexpended by the service representatives who have to re-route the calls.

Accordingly, a need exists for a cross-channel method and system thataddresses the current shortcomings above and others.

SUMMARY

The aforementioned needs are satisfied at least in part by systems andmethods employed to route a call from a client to a servicerepresentative of an organization. Activities performed by the client ata site of the organization are monitored and data corresponding to themonitored activities is stored in an activity database indexed accordingto the client. The call is thereafter received from the client at atelephone-based answering and forwarding system of the organization,which performs an identification of the client.

The telephone-based system provides the identification of the client toa cross-channel routing system as a request for a prediction therefromon where the call from the client should be routed, and thecross-channel routing system indexes into the activity database based onthe identification of the client to obtain the data corresponding to themonitored activity of the client. The cross-channel routing systememploys predicting rules and the obtained data to generate a predictionof where the call from the client should be routed and/or prioritizetelephone prompts that are presented to the caller to help accuratelyroute the call of the client.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofvarious embodiments of the present innovation, will be better understoodwhen read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose ofillustrating the embodiments, there are shown in the drawingsembodiments which are presently envisioned. As should be understood,however, the embodiments of the present innovation are not limited tothe precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a computing environmentwithin which various embodiments of the present innovation may beimplemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an organization with a site, atelephone-based system, and a cross-channel routing system forpredicting why a caller who has visited the site is calling theorganization in accordance with various embodiments of the presentinnovation; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing key actions performed in connectionwith the cross-channel routing system of FIG. 2 in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present innovation.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing key actions performed in connectionwith the cross-channel routing system of FIG. 2 in accordance with anembodiment of the present innovation for receiving and routing callsfrom a device with browser/phone combination technologies and/or livedialing capabilities (e.g., iPhone®-type devices).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example Computing Environment

FIG. 1 is set forth herein as an exemplary computing environment inwhich various embodiments of the present innovation may be implemented.The computing system environment is only one example of a suitablecomputing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation asto the scope of use or functionality. Numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations may beused. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use include, but are not limitedto, personal computers (PCs), server computers, handheld or laptopdevices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based systems, networkPCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, embedded systems, distributedcomputing environments that include any of the above systems or devices,and the like.

Computer-executable instructions such as program modules executed by acomputer may be used. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Distributed computing environments may be used where tasks are performedby remote processing devices that are linked through a communicationsnetwork or other data transmission medium. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules and other data may be located in both localand remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing aspectsdescribed herein includes a computing device, such as computing device100. In its most basic configuration, computing device 100 typicallyincludes at least one processing unit 102 and memory 104. Depending onthe exact configuration and type of computing device, memory 104 may bevolatile (such as random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile (such asread-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.), or some combination of thetwo. This most basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1 by dashedline 106. Computing device 100 may have additionalfeatures/functionality. For example, computing device 100 may includeadditional storage (removable and/or non-removable) including, but notlimited to, magnetic or optical disks or tape. Such additional storageis illustrated in FIG. 1 by removable storage 108 and non-removablestorage 110.

Computing device 100 typically includes or is provided with a variety ofcomputer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any availablemedia that can be accessed by computing device 100 and includes bothvolatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. Byway of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprisecomputer storage media and communication media.

Computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storageof information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. Memory 104, removable storage 108, andnon-removable storage 110 are all examples of computer storage media.Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM,electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other mediumwhich can be used to store the desired information and which canaccessed by computing device 100. Any such computer storage media may bepart of computing device 100.

Computing device 100 may also contain communications connection(s) 112that allow the device to communicate with other devices. Each suchcommunications connection 112 is an example of communication media.Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated datasignal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includesany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared and other wireless media. Theterm computer-readable media as used herein includes both storage mediaand communication media.

Computing device 100 may also have input device(s) 114 such as keyboard,mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Outputdevice(s) 116 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. may also beincluded. All these devices are generally known to the relevant publicand therefore need not be discussed in any detail herein except asprovided.

Notably, computing device 100 may be one of a plurality of computingdevices 100 inter-connected by a network 118, as is shown in FIG. 1. Asmay be appreciated, the network 118 may be any appropriate network, eachcomputing device 100 may be connected thereto by way of a connection 112in any appropriate manner, and each computing device 100 may communicatewith one or more of the other computing devices 100 in the network 118in any appropriate manner. For example, the network 118 may be a wiredor wireless network within an organization or home or the like, and mayinclude a direct or indirect coupling to an external network such as theInternet or the like.

It should be understood that the various techniques described herein maybe implemented in connection with hardware or software or, whereappropriate, with a combination of both. Thus, the methods and apparatusof the presently disclosed subject matter, or certain aspects orportions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions)embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, harddrives, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when theprogram code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as acomputer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the presentlydisclosed subject matter.

In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, thecomputing device generally includes a processor, a storage mediumreadable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memoryand/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least oneoutput device. One or more programs may implement or utilize theprocesses described in connection with the presently disclosed subjectmatter, e.g., through the use of an application-program interface (API),reusable controls, or the like. Such programs may be implemented in ahigh-level procedural or object-oriented programming language tocommunicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) can beimplemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case,the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combinedwith hardware implementations.

Although exemplary embodiments may refer to utilizing aspects of thepresently disclosed subject matter in the context of one or morestand-alone computer systems, the subject matter is not so limited, butrather may be implemented in connection with any computing environment,such as a network 118 or a distributed computing environment. Stillfurther, aspects of the presently disclosed subject matter may beimplemented in or across a plurality of processing chips or devices, andstorage may similarly be effected across a plurality of devices in anetwork 118. Such devices might include personal computers, networkservers, and handheld devices, for example.

Cross-Channel Call from Client

In various embodiments of the present innovation, and turning now toFIG. 2, it is seen that an organization 10 or the like has customers,members, clients, or the like (hereinafter, ‘clients 12’) which look tothe organization 10 for goods and/or services and/or the like. As shouldbe understood, the organization 10 may be most any entity, such as forexample a corporation, a business, an association, or the like.Presumably, the organization 10 has a relatively large number of clients12 who desire to obtain information and/or services from suchorganization 10.

As shown, the organization 10 provides a site 14 or the like that may beaccessed by the clients 12 of such organization 10 by way of anappropriate corresponding communications channel. For example, it may bethat the organization 10 maintains a web site accessible by clients 12of the organization 10 by way of an inter-network communications mediumsuch as the Internet, although the site 14 may alternately be anothertype of site accessible by another type of communications channel. Withsuch a site 14, and as should be appreciated, each client 12 of theorganization 10 can perform transactions to access information andservices from the organization 10, including transactions relevant tosuch client. To do so, the client 12 presumably has an account or thelike with the organization 10 where such account includes access to thesite 14 of the organization 10 by way of a user name and password or thelike. Access to such site 14 by such client 12 is generally known andtherefore need not be set forth herein in any detail other than which isprovided.

As was set forth above, the type of site 14 and the transactionsperformed thereat by the client 12 may vary depending on the type oforganization 10. For example, if the organization 10 is an insurancecompany and the client 12 is a customer having one or more policies withthe insurance company, the site 14 may allow the customer to performtransactions with the insurance company regarding policies of theclient, available policies, etc. Similarly, if the organization 10 is afinancial institution and the client 12 is an account holder having oneor more accounts with the financial institution, the site 14 may allowthe account holder to perform transactions with the financialinstitution regarding accounts of the client, available accounts, etc.Likewise, if the organization 10 is a merchandise retailer and theclient 12 is a purchaser of the retailer, the site 14 may allow thepurchaser to perform transactions with the retailer regarding particularmerchandise available, purchases that are being shipped, etc.

As was also set forth above, a client 12 visiting a site 14 of anorganization 10 can only perform particular transactions if the site hasfunctionality necessary to service such particular transaction and ifthe client can successfully navigate through the site to find suchparticular functionality. However, if the client 12 requires particularinformation and the organization 10 does not provide such particularinformation at the site 14 thereof, the client cannot locate suchparticular information at the site, or the client has questions aboutsuch particular information, then the client may not be satisfied andmay attempt to obtain the particular transaction from a differentcommunications channel. Typically, although by no means exclusively, thedifferent communications channel is a telephone channel, whereby theorganization provides a telephone-based system 16 for the client toanswer a telephone call from the client 12 to the organization 10 toobtain the information.

As is generally known, in such a telephone-based system 16, the client12 calls the organization 10 by way of a particular telephone number tospeak to a service representative or agent or the like (hereinafter,‘service representative 18’) that is provided by the organization 10 toservice telephone calls from clients 12. The service representatives 18of the organization 10 may be any appropriate service representativesand may be organized in any appropriate manner. For example, the servicerepresentatives 18 may be trained to handle most typical transactionsthat the client 12 may request, and may be organized along lines ofbusiness of the organization 10, among other things. Thus, if theorganization 10 is a financial institution, it may be that a call from aclient 12 is routed to different sets of service representativesdepending on whether the call relates to a deposit account, a loan, or acredit card, among other things. Similarly, if the organization 10 is aninsurance company, it may be that a call from a client 12 is routed todifferent sets of service representatives depending on whether the callrelates to home insurance, auto insurance, or life insurance, amongother things.

Upon dialing the particular telephone number, the client 12 firstencounters the telephone-based system 16 which answers the call,authenticates the caller, presents routing options to the caller basedon predictive models from a website click trail history of the clientand other data components (such as products owned, caller history,etc.), and routes call based on caller response. Typically, thetelephone-based system 16 presents options to the client 12 in anautomated manner, perhaps in the form of an orally presented menu, andthe client upon selecting an option from the menu may be presentedadditional options or may be routed directly.

As was pointed out above, when a client 12 calls the organization 10 tospeak to a service representative 18 after not being able to perform aparticular transaction from the site 14 of the organization 10, theclient 12 has already effectively used an appreciable amount of time andeffort at the site 14, is likely at least somewhat frustrated, and doesnot wish to expend any more additional time and effort other than thatwhich is necessary sorting through automated menus as may be presentedby the telephone-based system 16. Moreover, the organization 10 does notwish to expend any more additional time and effort other than that whichis necessary presenting automated menus to the client 12. Particularlyif the organization 10 is relatively large and has many different setsof service representatives 18 to whom a call may be routed, the time andeffort spent to route each call by the telephone-based system 16 canquickly add up to a considerable expense, even over a relatively shortperiod of time.

Cross-Channel Call Routing

Accordingly, in various example embodiments of the present innovation, acall from a client 12 is presented prioritized routing options by thetelephone-based system 16 of the organization 10 aided at least in partbased on analyzed activity that the client undertook at the site 14 ofthe organization 10. In particular, and as seen in FIG. 2, in variousembodiments of the present innovation, a cross-channel routing system 20monitors the activities of the client 12 at the site 14. Informationcaptured on the site 14 is used to help prioritize the telephone promptsthat are presented by the telephone-based system 16 of the organization10 to the client 12 to help accurately route the call.

In general, the activity of the client 12 at the site 14 of theorganization 10 as monitored by the cross-channel routing system 20 maybe most any appropriate activity, and such monitoring may be performedin most any appropriate manner, all without departing from the spiritand scope of the present innovation. For example, the activity of theclient 12 monitored may include each part (page, e.g.) of the site 14that the client 12 navigates to, how long the client 12 is at each partof the site 14, each search the client 12 performs at the site 14, thesearch results from each search that the client 12 navigates to, howmany times the client 12 navigates to each part of the site 14, andwhether the client prints any part of the site 14, among other things.This process is generally referred to as click trail navigation history.The click trail may be monitored and recorded for a single channel ormultiple channels such as web and/or a smart-phone device. Also otheractivities may be monitored and/or stored, for example, such as callerhistory, products owned, solicits, claims, pending applications, etc.Such monitoring may be performed by the cross-channel routing system 20according to pre-defined rules which may be any appropriate rules.

In various embodiments of the present innovation, the cross-channelrouting system 20 may store data corresponding to the monitored activityof each client 12 in an appropriately configured activity database 22,as is seen in FIG. 2. As shown, the activity database 22 stores the dataindexed according to each client 12 for ease of access therefrom basedon the client 12. As should be understood, the system 20 may identifyeach client 12 at the site 14 by way of identifying information suppliedby the client 12 when accessing the site 14, such as for example a username and password.

As should be understood, the cross-channel routing system 22 attempts topredict with some minimum level of certainty why a client 12 is callingthe organization 10 based on recent activity of the client 12 at thesite 14 of the organization 10. Thus, the system 22 is forward-lookingand operates at least partially before the client 12 actually calls.Such predicting may be performed in any appropriate manner and based onany appropriate predicting rules. For example, one predicting rule maybe that a client 12 is likely calling regarding a particular area of theorganization 10 if the last activity of the client 12 at the site 14 iswith regard to such particular area, but only if such last activity atthe site 14 with regard to such particular area lasted longer than oneminute. Similarly, another predicting rule may be that a client 12 islikely calling regarding a particular area of the organization 10 if themajority of activity of the client 12 at the site 14 in the last fifteenminutes is with regard to such particular area.

Since the system 22 relies on recent activity of the client 12 at thesite 14, the data stored with regard to the client 12 in the activitydatabase is highly time-sensitive. That is, the value of such datadecreases greatly as the data ages. Put simply, data collected 30seconds ago is likely highly informative of why a client 12 might bepresently calling the organization 10, while data collected two weeksago is not likewise likely highly informative, and instead may be ofalmost no use in determining why a client 12 might be presently callingthe organization 10. As a result, it may be that the activity database22 regularly flushes data therefrom when the data ages beyond a certainlevel, such as for example an hour, a few hours, or a day.

Turning now to FIG. 3, it is seen that the cross-channel routing system20 is employed in the following manner. Preliminarily, a client 12visits the site 14 of the organization 10 and performs activities at thesite 14, such as for example viewing various parts of the site 14,performing transactions including obtaining information and accessingservices from the various parts of the site 14, and the like (301). Inthe course of the client 12 visiting the site 14, then, thecross-channel routing system 22 monitors the performed activities andstores corresponding data in the activity database 22 indexed accordingto the client 12 (303).

At some point thereafter, the client 12 calls the organization 10 (305),either after ceasing to perform activities at the site 14 or while stillperforming activities at the site 14. Presumptively, the telephone-basedsystem 16 of the organization 10 answers the call from the client 12 inan effort to route the call to an appropriate service representative 18,and in doing so the telephone-based system 16 performs an identificationof the client 12 in a generally automated manner (307). Identifying suchclient 12 in a generally automated manner may be performed in anyappropriate manner, such as for example by identifying the telephoneline that the client 12 is calling on, or by having the client 12identify himself or herself by way of an entered identifier.

In various embodiments of the present innovation, once the callingclient 12 is identified, the telephone-based system 16 provides theidentification of the client 12 to the cross-channel routing system 20as a request for a prediction therefrom to aid in routing the call(309). In response thereto, and as should now be appreciated, thecross-channel routing system 20 based on the identification of thecalling client 12 indexes into the activity database 22 to obtaintherefrom data corresponding to the monitored activity of the client 12(311) and provide a prediction of the client needs (313). Thereafter,the cross-channel routing system 20 returns the prediction for thecalling client 12 to the telephone-based system 16 (315), and suchtelephone-based system 16 then prioritizes the telephone prompts thatare presented to the client 12 to help accurately route the callaccording to the returned prediction (317). In an alternativeembodiment, the call may be directly routed to a particular memberservice representative based on the returned prediction (317).

Note that in the course of predicting where the calling client 12 shouldbe routed as at 313, the cross-channel routing system 20 may develop aconfidence level in the prediction, where the confidence level may beexpressed as a scaled value. As may be appreciated, such a confidencelevel may be employed to determine whether the prediction should beused. That is, if the confidence level is relatively low, then thecross-channel routing system 20 may decide that the prediction shouldnot be provided to the telephone-based system 16 and that instead noprediction should be provided or employed as at 315 and 317. Incontrast, if the confidence level is relatively high, then thecross-channel routing system 20 may decide not only that the predictionshould be provided, but that the prediction can be refined to be moreprecise, for example.

Note to that in the course of predicting where the calling client 12should be routed as at 313, the cross-channel routing system 20 mayrefer to other data relating to the calling client as obtained fromsources in addition to the activity database 22. For example, thecross-channel routing system 20 may determine from another database thatthe calling client 12 is a certain age, has a certain income level,lives in a certain location, and the like, and the returned predictionmay incorporate such other data. Accordingly, if the calling client 12lives in a region that just experienced a significant storm, forexample, and the monitored activity of the client 12 shows that theclient was reviewing home insurance information, the cross-channelrouting system 20 may predict that the calling client 12 wishes to makea claim for storm damage based on the home insurance. Similarly, if thecalling client 12 is nearing 65 years in age, for example, and themonitored activity of the client 12 shows that the client was reviewingretirement accounts, the cross-channel routing system 20 may predictthat the calling client 12 wishes to start withdrawing retirement fundsfrom the retirement accounts.

The prediction as provided by the cross-channel routing system 20 to thetelephone-based system 16 as at 315 may take any appropriate form. Forexample, the provided prediction may specify a particular line ofbusiness in which the calling client 12 is likely interested. Likewise,the provided prediction may specify not only a particular line ofbusiness in which the calling client 12 is likely interested, but also aparticular issue or matter or account or the like of interest, in whichcase the telephone-based system 16 may be able to prioritize thetelephone prompts provided to the client based on such a prediction orroute the calling client 12 to a specific service representative 18within such line of business that presumptively has a prior connectionto such issue/matter/account/etc. In contradistinction, the providedprediction may not necessarily specify a particular line of business inwhich the calling client 12 is likely interested, but instead mayspecify that the client 12 has a particular status, in which case thetelephone-based system 16 would be able to prioritize the telephoneprompts provided to the client based on such a prediction or, in aalternative embodiment, route the calling client to a servicerepresentative 18 that services clients 12 having such status. Notably,such status may for example be that the client 12 is an especiallyvalued client, or that the client 12 is an especially troublesomeclient, among other things.

The telephone-based system 16 may employ such returned prediction in anyappropriate manner. In an alternative embodiment, if the prediction isspecific, the calling client 12 may be routed immediately to anappropriate service representative 18 without presenting the callingclient 12 with any automated menus, prompts or the like. Of course, as amatter of courtesy it may be that the calling client 12 is first givenan opportunity to confirm the prediction. Also, the telephone promptsand menus provided to the client may be prioritized based on theprediction. For another example, if the prediction is not specific butinstead is more general, the calling client 12 may be forwarded into ahierarchy of automated menus, but advanced by one or more levels intothe hierarchy based on the prediction. Again, as a matter of courtesy itmay be that the calling client 12 is first given an opportunity toconfirm the prediction. Note here that if the calling client 12repudiates the prediction, the telephone-based system 20 may merely beforwarded into such a hierarchy of automated menus, but to the top levelof the hierarchy.

It may be that the prediction is indeterminate in that a number ofpossible areas of interest to the calling client 12 are provided. Insuch a case, the calling client 12 may be forwarded into a customizedmenu that lists the possible areas of interest, perhaps in some rankedorder, and that prompts the calling client 12 to select from suchpossible areas of interest or ‘other’. As should be understood, aselection by the client 12 of one of the possible areas of interestresults in the client 12 being forwarded to the hierarchy of automatedmenus, but advanced by one or more levels into the hierarchy based onthe selection, while a selection by the client 12 of ‘other’ results inthe client 12 being forwarded into the hierarchy of automated menus, butto the top level of the hierarchy.

Of course, the calling client 12 is ultimately forwarded by way of thetelephone-based system 20 to a live or automated service representative18 to be serviced thereby. In various embodiments of the presentinnovation, upon the calling client 12 having been serviced by such aservice representative 18, the service representative 18 inquires as tohow the cross-channel communication occurred. In particular, the servicerepresentative 18 collects information from the calling client 12regarding whether the site 14 of the organization 10 was deficient inthat the client 12 decided to call the organization 10, and if so, how.As may be appreciated, such collected information may then be forwardedto an appropriate party within the organization 10 so that thedeficiency may be addressed. In addition or in the alternative, thecollected information may also be forwarded to an appropriate partywithin the organization 10 so that the prediction rules employed by thecross-channel routing system 20 may be improved.

Referring next to FIG. 4, shown is a flow diagram showing key actionsperformed in connection with the cross-channel routing system of FIG. 2in accordance with an embodiment of the present innovation for receivingand routing calls from a device with browser/phone combinationtechnologies and/or live dialing capabilities (e.g., iPhone®-typedevices, available from Apple, Inc., Cupertino, Calif.). The processshown in FIG. 4, is similar to that of FIG. 3 except that after theclient 12 calls (305) the organization, the telephone-based system 16receives (407) a call from a specialized device with browser/phonecombination technologies and/or live dialing capabilities (e.g., aniPhone®-type device). The telephone-based system 16 then receives andprocesses the specialized device (e.g. an iPhone®-type device) tonesignal and call routing data and identifies the client (409). Thisprocess design expands the process capability for a specialauto-recognizable iPhone®-type device signal that lets thetelephone-based system 16 know to wait a very small amount of time forsubsequent routing data signals with duplicate matching confirmationtones to reduce the possibility of errors due to cell phone signal gaps.Also, the client 12 may select an “Expert Direct” (or similar name)button on the specialized device (e.g., iPhone® or other smart device)which dials the organization and triggers the sending of specific dataabout the area of expertise needed/request by the client 12 to thetelephone-based system 16 based on which button was selected forpriority routing options and messaging. This inbound iPhone®-type datasignal receiving process (409) may also trigger a notification to amember service representative and/or related systems that the device ofthe client 12 is able to upload pictures and images for the process athand or other ongoing organizational processes (e.g., insurance claimsservices or mortgage services) if necessary.

CONCLUSION

The programming believed necessary to effectuate the processes performedin connection with the various embodiments of the present innovation isrelatively straight-forward and should be apparent to the relevantprogramming public. Accordingly, such programming is not attachedhereto. Any particular programming, then, may be employed to effectuatethe various embodiments of the present innovation without departing fromthe spirit and scope thereof.

In the present innovation, a cross-channel method and routing system 20are provided to route a call from a client 12 of an organization 10 whohas already visited a site 14 of the organization 10, where thecross-channel routing system 20 does not require a telephone-basedsystem 16 of the organization 10 to start anew when routing the call toa service representative 18 within the organization 10. Thecross-channel routing system 20 employs information on the visit to thesite 14 by the client 12 to route the call within the organization 10.

It should be appreciated that changes could be made to the embodimentsdescribed above without departing from the innovative concepts thereof.For example, although the present innovation is set forth primarily interms of the cross-channel routing system 20 both collecting data andmaking predictions based thereon, either such functionality may beremoved from the system 20 and located elsewhere. Thus, it may be thatthe cross-channel routing system 20 collects the data and thetelephone-based system 16 makes predictions based thereon, or that thesite 14 collects the data and the telephone-based system 16 makespredictions based thereon. It should be understood, therefore, that thisinnovation is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, butit is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of thepresent innovation as defined by the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of routing a call from a client to a service representative of an organization, the method comprising: monitoring activities of the client at a site of the organization; upon a call from the client being received at a telephone-based system of the organization, receiving a request from the telephone-based system for a set of information regarding the monitored activities; removing information from the set of information when an age of the information in the set of information is greater than a predetermined age, wherein a value of the set of information regarding the monitored activities decreases as the information ages; applying predicting rules to the monitored activities of the client to make a prediction regarding why the client is calling the organization; determining whether to use the prediction based on a confidence level associated with the prediction; and determining telephone prompts to be presented to the client based on the monitored activities of the client at the site, wherein the telephone prompts to be presented to the client are based on the prediction responsive to a determination that the prediction should be used.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitored activities of the client at the site are selected from a group that includes each part of the site that the client navigates to, how long the client is at each part of the site, each search the client performs at the site, search results obtained from each search that the client navigated to, how many times the client navigates to each part of the site, and whether the client prints any part of the site.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitored activities of the client are stored in an activities database indexed according to the client.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is identified at the site by way of identifying information supplied by the client when accessing the site, the identifying information including at least a user name.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephone prompts to be presented to the client are determined by predicting why the client is calling the organization based on the monitored activity of the client at the site, the predicting being performed by applying predicting rules to the monitored activity.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitored activities of the client occur prior to the call from the client.
 7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions thereon implementing a method of routing a call from a client to a service representative of an organization, the method comprising: monitoring activities of the client at a site of the organization; upon a call from the client being received at a telephone-based system of the organization, receiving a request from the telephone-based system for a set of information regarding the monitored activities; removing information from the set of information when an age of the information in the set of information is greater than a predetermined age, wherein a value of the set of information regarding the monitored activities decreases as the information ages; applying predicting rules to the monitored activities of the client to make a prediction regarding why the client is calling the organization; determining whether to use the prediction based on a confidence level associated with the prediction; and determining telephone prompts to be presented to the client based on the monitored activities of the client at the site, wherein the telephone prompts to be presented to the client are based on the prediction responsive to a determination that the prediction should be used.
 8. The non-transitory medium of claim 7, wherein the monitored activities of the client at the site are selected from a group that includes each part of the site that the client navigates to, how long the client is at each part of the site, each search the client performs at the site, search results obtained from each search that the client navigates to, how many times the client navigates to each part of the site, and whether the client prints any part of the site.
 9. The non-transitory medium of claim 7, wherein the monitored activities of the client are stored in an activities database indexed according to the client.
 10. The non-transitory medium of claim 7, wherein the client is identifies at the site by way of identifying information supplied by the client when accessing the site, the identifying information including at least a user name.
 11. The non-transitory medium of claim 7, wherein the telephone prompts to be presented to the client are determined by predicting why the client is calling the organization based on the monitored activity of the client at the site, the predicting being performed by applying predicting rules to the monitored activity.
 12. The non-transitory medium of claim 7, wherein the monitored activities of the client occur prior to the call from the client.
 13. A system for routing a call from a client to a service representative of an organization, the system comprising: a subsystem that monitors activities of the client at a site of the organization; a subsystem that, upon a call from the client being received at a telephone-based system of the organization, receives a request from the telephone-based system for a set of information regarding the monitored activities; a subsystem that removes information from the set of information when an age of the information in the set of information is greater than a predetermined age, wherein a value of the set of information regarding the monitored activities decreases as the information ages; a subsystem that applies predicting rules to the monitored activities of the client to make a prediction regarding why the client is calling the organization; a subsystem that determines whether to use the prediction based on a confidence level associated with the prediction; and a subsystem that determines telephone prompts to be presented to the client based on the monitored activities of the client at the site, wherein the telephone prompts to be presented to the client are based on the prediction responsive to a determination that the prediction should be used.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the monitored activities of the client at the site are selected from a group that includes each part of the site that the client navigates to, how long the client is at each part of the site, each search the client performs at the site, search results obtained from each search that the client navigates to, how many times the client navigates to each part of the site, and whether the client prints any part of the site.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the monitored activities of the client are stored in an activities database indexed according to the client.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the client is identified at the site by way of identifying information supplied by the client when accessing the site, the identifying information including at least a user name.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein the telephone prompts to be presented to the client are determined by predicting why the client is calling the organization based on the monitored activity of the client at the site, the predicting being performed by applying predicting rules to the monitored activity. 